UCL School of Management Student is Finalist in National Business Innovation Competition

On 28 October 2019 engineering students, graduates and postgraduates will compete for a prestigious Engineers in Business Competition award and a share of a £10,000 prize pot. 

Ten teams from UK universities have been short-listed to pitch their business innovations at the Champion of Champions Grand Final at the Royal Academy of Engineering – the awards ceremony will be attended by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the patron of the Engineers in Business Competition (EIBC).

Christian Warken, an MSc Entrepreneurship student at UCL School of Management has developed Medulla to address the issue of digitalisation which many medical professionals face; research has found that for every hour spent with a patient, doctors spend another five on the computer. Medulla is a platform which will update patient treatment and administration for the digital age, designed to help doctors spend less time on their computers and more time with patients.

Christian commented on the inspiration behind Medulla:

“My parents were a major influence being doctors and seeing how computer software is a daily burden or at least a limiting factor to them. Christian is the son of a gynaecologist and psychotherapist therefore grew up witnessing this issue at home. Medulla provides doctors with a modernised calendar, easy-to-access information on their patients, and easy to access contemporary medical research.”

The Engineers in Business Competition inspires engineers to gain business skills through their university enterprise competitions. They then harness their combined engineering and business skills to create innovations that can change people’s lives and improve the lived environment.

Christian won a Best Idea & Pitch prize in the university heat of the Engineers in Business Competition receiving £1,000 towards the development of Medulla. He then entered the Engineers in Business Grand Final and won a place in the Champion of Champions Final, where he will be up against other inventers with equally forward-thinking ideas. Will Christian walk away with Gold for tackling an intractable medical administration problem?

The Dragons’ Den Style competition will see each pitch team present and answer questions from the judges who are:

• Ana Avaliani, Head of Enterprise, Royal Academy of Engineering
• Tim Chapman, Director, Arup – Infrastructure
• Andrew Doe, a Sainsbury Management Fellow, a serial entrepreneur, a highly experienced e-commerce and digital leader and a non-exec director
• Kate Beresford, Head of Membership and Operation, Enterprise Educators UK 

The judges are looking for:

• Originality and viability of the idea
• How the idea helps to solve a real problem in society
• The benefits to the target audience/customer

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, there will be two other exciting prizes:

• Lord Sainsbury Prize – Lord Sainsbury will award this prize to the team he believes has created a business idea that will have a big impact in society
• People’s Prize – the winner of this prize will be determined by the number of public votes based on the finalists’ videos which can be viewed on this website

The Engineers in Business Competition supports and promotes the idea of a combined engineering and business education. In a world that is moving and developing so rapidly, these skills are vital in order to tackle challenging global problems and to make lasting positive changes to the way we live.

Christian believes it is important to learn business skills: “In my opinion, students are being taught tools at university, but rarely how to apply them on your own. Business innovation can be a great funnel that can harness that knowledge, bundle it and build something that truly matters.

“Perhaps the most important thing I gained from the competition was discovering how to present my idea to people that have completely different backgrounds and ideas. Other than experts at various pitches, taking part in the Engineers in Business Competition put me in in front of people that were more diverse and hence they asked interesting nuanced questions.”

For further information on Medulla, contact Althea Taylor-Salmon at eibcompetition@eibc.org.uk.